Today I received the very last genetic test results we were waiting for, diversity results from UC Davis for Dolk. All five puppies are now uploaded and publicly searchable on BetterBred. I analyzed my personal selections and placement decisions, and feel grateful for the choices already made.
Commonly, purebred dog breeders make placement decisions solely upon conformation, temperament and pedigrees. Early on, my gut told me that Dolk looked the most different from his siblings, and I hoped that he would be sired by Prins. That wasn't the case, as AKC paternity testing concluded that all five puppies were sired by Egon. Egon and Celine were a Category 8 on BetterBred, very distantly related.
Celine whelped only one male puppy in her first litter, sired by a mentor's dog, in July 2023. Georgie was injured during birth and went to live in a wonderful pet home, where he is thriving with his uncle and second cousin. He remains my favorite puppy from all of my litters. It is impossible to describe Georgie's sunny personality and strongly held opinions. He is highly intelligent but also goofy, playful with a voracious appetite for food and life. He will destroy his toys and yours as well.
The owner of the stud from Celine's first litter contractually required me to genetically test all puppies in the litter. We learned that Georgie was the most genetically diverse among his siblings and unrelated to Blossom. I kept Kate from that litter, who is genetically unrelated to Mario (brother to Blossom), but have doubts that I will ever breed Kate. She is exhaustingly high drive, independent, lacks food drive, and at 18 months still looks like a puppy noodle. Her Terrible Twos are making my hair turn gray. Kate is slightly taller and longer than her mum Celine, but just 2/3 of her weight. Granted, Celine and Wil were a Category 10, completely unrelated, so less uniformity was expected with a true genetic outcross. It's common for Vallhunds to grow, physically and mentally, until four years of age. I want to give Kate at least another year before I permanently decide her breeding suitability. She might need two more years. She is a wonderful dog 95% of the day but boy that 5% of other times are trying!
My ambitious goal with Celine's second litter was to produce a stub tailed male puppy that could stay in the gene pool; if that puppy inherited Celine's rare haplotypes that would be a huge bonus. Georgie inherited those haplotypes but Kate did not. Genetic diversity is important because it is the backbone of the immune system. When animals become overly inbred, health and the immune system decline. When haplotypes are extinguished in a breed, the gene pool shrinks. First and foremost, my goal as a preservation breeder is to maintain healthy lines. There are many beautiful dogs with major health problems, which was our experience before Vallhunds. There are entire breeds with excellent temperaments and severe health problems endemic to those breeds. I want to breed healthy, beautiful dogs with excellent temperaments that will be active well into their teenage years.
Breeding is an art, and events will happen that are completely out of my ability to control and predict. I won't be successful 100% of the time, and nature will throw curve balls, but there is a lot that I can do to increase my odds. We do not spare expenses related to veterinary care, premium nutrition, an enriching home environment, and safety for our dogs. We have to budget for showing and travel, because our resources are limited.
I attempted a duel sire litter because Prins has two of the three most rare haplotypes found in Vallhunds, present in fewer than 6% of individuals tested. He was functionally sterile in 2023, without any medical reason despite testing for everything. Prins had a decent sperm count in September 2024, though low motility. Egon had very high counts, and I used him as the backup sire to ensure there would in fact be a litter. Celine was already five years old at the time of the breeding and I would not breed her a third time. I had one last chance for a Prins puppy with Celine. Nature decided that Egon's superior swimmers would fertilize all the eggs, and produced a very nice litter. Celine had a scheduled cesarian section to reduce the chance of any puppies being injured from home whelping, and I am glad that we chose that route. All of the puppies were as large or larger than Georgie at birth, so who knows what might have happened. I am extremely grateful for the superior reproductive services available at Veterinary Village.
There has been an explosion of breeding close lines in the US in the past five years. I worry that in a decade there will be a significant number of Vallhunds with health problems, particularly neurological and cardiac. It won't matter that they were beautiful as young dogs and did very well at dog shows. There is a battle within the breed over whether or not SV retinopathy testing is necessary or useful or can even predict whether a Vallhund will actually lose vision if they have two copies of the gene. Many breeders breed carriers and some breed carriers to affected individuals. I worry that in a decade there will be very few clear Vallhunds in the US, again disproportionately represented among closely related individuals. I will not breed carriers, and want to produce only litters without genetically affected puppies. My preference is to keep clear puppies over carriers, but in this litter I chose to keep two carriers.
Increasing genetic diversity in each generation of puppies I breed is a major goal of mine. Celine herself is a healthy individual but has low genetic diversity. Her parents were a Category 4 mating. Egon has average genetic diversity. Sten was my male pick of the litter, a gray tailed male with good conformation and an excellent temperament. I decided when he was a few weeks old that I needed to find a show home for Sten. I don't want to breed two tailed parents since I want to preserve the natural stub tail gene. As it turned out, Sten is closely genetically related to Blossom, the equivalent of half siblings. I think we have the perfect family lined up for Sten and he is the first puppy from the litter leaving the nest.
Beatrix was not supposed to stay here. I already had doubts about Kate's suitability as a future breeding female, so was not completely opposed to keeping a female. I tried to find an excellent show and breeding home for Beatrix. I wanted to find a placement with a family that I could contract to purchase a puppy from a future litter, but didn't find exactly what I was looking for. I contacted several individuals privately, but none were in a position to add a puppy. The political climate in the US has led to a lot of international uncertainty, not foreseeable when the breeding took place in September 2024.
I received several inquiries for a breeding prospect red tailed female puppy; I politely declined all of them. None were what I considered ideal for a puppy as special as Beatrix. Some were from commercial breeders, and at least one was from a broker who resells puppies. There were people willing to try showing, but I was only willing to consider a home with show and breeding experience. In my opinion, nothing is as anxiety producing as whelping a litter of puppies. There's risk for the dam and her puppies. I know plenty of breeders that sold female show prospects to homes with good intentions but the families didn't follow through with actually breeding and whelping a litter. I would never push a family to breed their pet; potentially losing a pet is too high a risk for a lot of people and they are family members first. Finding homes for puppies is difficult. Even with a rare breed in high demand, you will screen out a lot of undesirable people and a number of them will get very nasty no matter how nicely you tell them that you are not willing to sell them a puppy.
Small scale preservation breeding with a rare breed is extremely expensive. We sold three puppies from this litter, and those proceeds will barely cover the veterinarian bills incurred to produce the litter. Everything that happened from coming into season until puppies were ready to leave for their new homes was the best case scenario: a little of five healthy puppies, healthy parents, a mum that recovered quickly from her pregnancy, and everyone passed vet exams at eight weeks old with flying colors. All five puppies have good conformation, correct bites, good temperaments, improved genetic diversity over their dam, and the three boys all have both beans descended.
Vallhunds are a primitive breed that typically produce small litters. Females cycle later than modern breeds; Celine herself only came into season around every 9 months, and her average heat cycle was only ten days before this breeding. That is an extremely small window for breeding, which is why I camped in Waupun for nine days in September with Celine and all three boys. Vet Village is a five hour drive from our house in eastern Iowa. I took Celine to Vet Village for progesterone testing starting one week after her season started on September 13. She decided to wait almost another week before ovulating. The TCI duel sire breeding followed at the clinic two days after Celine ovulated. Celine is a dominant female and would not stand for a male, which is not uncommon, so she had to be bred at the clinic regardless. When she was bred on September 27, her progesterone was slightly higher than at the time of breeding in 2023. I held my breath and tried to stay sane for the 35 days after breeding, at which time Celine was confirmed pregnant via ultrasound by our local veterinarian. I camped again in November, arriving at a site fifteen minutes from Vet Village four days before Celine's scheduled cesarean section. If she went into labor early, I could rush her to the clinic. Celine and Egon enjoyed their camping vacation, Celine was ready on her scheduled day, and puppies were delivered without complications. All were examined at birth and received better care than most human women who deliver children. I had an uneventful drive back to Iowa, and Celine was an excellent mother to her new puppies.
Beatrix, simply put, is probably the best female puppy born from all three of the litters I bred. Her conformation is lovely, her temperament is stellar, she has all of her dam's attitude and her sire's desire to please. Bea has high food drive and would sell any of the dogs in this house for a bite of roasted chicken. I want Beatrix to be a show dog, and I want to show her myself in bred by classes. Beatrix is so far the only dog alive that can tire out Kate, which is worth a fortune on its own! They enjoy playing together tremendously and Kate showed beautiful maternal instincts with all five of her maternal half siblings. Beatrix' registered name will be Lycklig Between Worlds.
As I mentioned earlier, I wanted a male stub tailed puppy from this breeding. Specifically, I wanted a male that would be less genetically related to Blossom than Egon, who is a Category 5 on BetterBred. Dolk is a Category 7 with Blossom, which is not to say that I will ever breed them, but it is a good genetic option down the road if every other consideration appears favorable. Dolk, like Georgie, received Celine's rare haplotypes and none of the common ones carried by Egon. Dolk's most common haplotype is found in only 23% of Vallhunds. Dolk's registered name will be Lycklig Feeding the Dark.
Sten was my pick of the litter from the three boys. The sole gray puppy, with a full tail, he was not what I needed for my small preservation program. I began looking for a show home for Sten when he was a few weeks old, and I believe he will be very happy in his new home. Sten leaves in a few days, and will be a wonderful companion for a junior handler and his family. I hope that they have great success in the show ring, but most important I hope they have fun and a lifetime of wonderful memories. Sten has the best genetic diversity in the litter, and is clear for retinopathy. He is genetically closely related to Blossom, the equivalent of half siblings. Sten has a lot of offer a different part of the country and maybe a few unrelated female Vallhunds in the future. His registered name will be Lycklig Made of Stone.
Kyra was the main puppy that caught my eye at birth. She was the largest, in a litter of large puppies, with a pretty white chest mark that resembled a flower. Registered names of all puppies in this litter are Evanescence and Amy Lee songs (Amy Lee being the vocalist and co-founder of Evanescence; she has solo projects as well). Kyra's registered name will be Lycklig Sakura Rising. She inherited commonly occurring genetics from both parents. She also has a more independent nature than her siblings, not as demanding of individual attention but also not as interested in complying with instructions. She will be a great companion for the active family that she is going to join next week. Kyra will be a blast for performance sports and I think she will show keep aptitude for agility.
Dröm is the sweetheart in the litter. He started as the marshmallow; at four weeks he was more interested in snuggles than playing with his siblings. He matured, and toughened up quite a bit. By eight weeks old, Dröm held his own while wrestling and roughhousing with his siblings. He was still the first puppy to amble over to me for cuddles and to be held when he wanted a break. Dröm loves toys, playing, food, and really everything. I see a lot of Egon in him and not much of Celine, aside from his red sable coat color. He has a nice amount of bone, but not nearly as much as Dolk, and he doesn't have the obvious "look at me" factor to be a show dog. Dröm will be a fantastic companion and adventure buddy for his new family, and will try his heart out in any performance sports given the opportunity. Dröm's registered name will be Lycklig Dream Too Much.
Dolk is the physical embodiment of the goals I had for this litter. He has outstanding bone and conformation. He has a better front end than Celine and stronger hind end than Egon. He has a great top line, masculine head, good front legs, excellent stifle. He has strong food drive (as do all of his siblings), a confident demeanor, fun middle of the pack personality, is willing to try anything twice, and gets along great with everyone here. Dolk especially loves Skadi, our most senior Vallhund, and will be an easy dog to live with. Dolk is smart but not scheming. Andy and I joke that Dolk is The Red Mario. I'm thrilled with Dolk's genetic results from UC Davis. He inherited both Celine and Egon's most rare haplotypes. He is a Category 7 with Blossom. He has better genetic diversity than Celine. Dolk has the most perfect short stub tail that wags in circles and he is generous with kisses. He is a gorgeous deep red sable color and I think his harness markings will be dramatic in a few months. Nature gave me everything that I begged for and a few extras. I'm not opposed to placing Dolk locally on a co ownership with a show home if one arises. It would have to be a better home with fewer dogs than live here, and few places meet that criteria.
Comments